Last night, saying “to whom much is given, much is required,” President
Bush spoke of some of the incredible advances our country has made in
the fight against extreme poverty over the last few years.
Some highlights:
The president spoke of the Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),
a commitment of $15 Billion over five years to support prevention,
treatment and care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Bush: “And because
you funded our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the number of people
receiving life-saving drugs has grown from 50,000 to more than 800,000
in three short years.”
President Bush talked about the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), a five-year, $1.2 billion program that challenges the private sector
to join the U.S. government in combating malaria in 15 of the
hardest-hit African countries.
The president asked our country to continue to support expanded trade
and debt relief, saying they are “the best hope for lifting lives and
eliminating poverty.”
Today, hundreds of thousands of people are alive because of America’s
programs and funding. As the first generation with the technology,
resources and know-how to end extreme poverty, we are proud and excited,
and know it is critical that President Bush, and both the Republican and
Democratic parties, work together to fully fund the fight in the fiscal
year 2008 budget.
I just finished watching President Bush’s State of the Union address. The most important excerpt of the speech for our movement:
“American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required. We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger, poverty, and disease – and that is precisely what America is doing. We must continue to fight HIV/AIDS, especially on the continent of Africa – and because you funded our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the number of people receiving life-saving drugs has grown from 50,000 to more than 800,000 in three short years.
“I ask you to continue funding our efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. I ask you to provide $1.2 billion over five years so we can combat malaria in 15 African countries. I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat. And let us continue to support the expanded trade and debt relief that are the best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty.
“When America serves others in this way, we show the strength and generosity of our country. These deeds reflect the character of our people. The greatest strength we have is the heroic kindness, courage, and self sacrifice of the American people. You see this spirit often if you know where to look – and tonight we need only look above to the gallery.”
I just came from a global forum on poverty in Nairobi, Kenya, where ONE members were given a beautiful painted African plate as an award for your incredible work organizing around the October 15, 2006 Global Day of Action Against Poverty. And this was not the only sign today of how far the word of our work has spread.
This morning I found myself swept up in a procession of the Kenyan Green Movement to a forum led by Nobel Peace Prize winners, Jodi Williams, Wangari Maathai and Dr. Shirin Ebadi, who talked about everything from organizing against poverty to stopping the genocide in Darfur. After the forum, I went up to Wangari’s table and found that her team member was wearing a ONE white wristband. She said that a ONE member gave her the band while visiting their project in Kenya.
The group invited me to a reception for the three women Nobel Laureates tonight and they asked me to tell you: “Thank you and please don’t stop!”
To give you a sense of the spirit here, I thought I would share some highlight quotes from today’s forums:
All three Nobel laureates were recognized for very different work (banning landmines, protecting the environment and human rights work) but the crux of their messages were the same: That the key to peace will be redefining security as meeting the basic needs of the people of this planet. And, that the key to doing this, is us. In the words of Wangari Maathai, “If you do not have a strong, organized civil society, you can talk, but no one will listen. Governments will only listen to us if we organize ourselves into a movement and demand that our voices are heard.”
In response to a question in today’s forum on governments’ G8 promises, an Italian member of Parliament responded: “We are breaking them, but it is the building of this alliance of global poverty campaigns that will push governments to turn around and start keeping them.”
The GCAP (Global Call to Action Against Poverty) Coordinator in Zimbabwe gave a passionate call to arms during the forum, shouting: “The world is not poor because of lack of resources or policy analysis, but because there are not enough people organized.” The crowd shouted back, “then we will organize!” He closed out by saying, “We will wear our white bands because we must create a world without distinction. We will organize people locally and globally, from the slums here in Nairobi, to Washington, DC, to have our voices heard.”
The band Telepath is showing their support for the fight against extreme poverty by sharing their song “Mama” with ONE members today. Their music, with roots in reggae and the pulse of Afrobeat music, samples horn lines, rhythm guitars, Indian and Arabic musicians and vocalists. We hope you enjoy.
“Kevin Meyame (Afromotive front-man) and I wrote this song as homage to Kevin’s mother, and a tribute to the Motherland. Telepath is thrilled to
offer their support to the ONE Campaign’s efforts to combat poverty and AIDS with a song that celebrates the vibrancy of the African continent and
people. Thank you for this opportunity to help ONE.
I just got back to my hotel after a long but exhilarating day at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya. The day began with the official launch of this year’s dates for global mobilization against poverty and culminated in a spontaneous round of late night cross-cultural karaoke. I was going to crash but Josh assured me that I should make these posts brief anyhow, so I pulled my blackberry back out to write this quick post.
Some highlights from today:
In a GCAP (Global Call to Action Against Poverty) press conference this morning, it was announced that this year’s White Band Day will take place on October 17, 2007.
Campaign leaders from across the globe talked about their roles in last year’s mobilization of 23.5 million people (the largest single movement of people in a 24 hour period on any issue ever) and everyone committed to mobilizing even more people this year.
To point out that it wasn’t the only day for joint action, I, and others from G8 countries, talked about our plans to influence the G8 Summit taking place in Germany on June 7.
I was reminded of how important this work will be when two incredible singers from the slums of Nairobi performed their song “G8″ linking the poverty they’ve experienced to global debts and broken promises. I talked to them afterwards, because I knew it would be something you would love to hear, and now they are working on getting us a special version for our ONE podcast.
There is much more to say, but I’ll keep my commitment to Josh and make this brief, but I will be sure to send along more highlights tomorrow.
We spotted a ONE T-shirt on “Heroes” actor Leonoard Roberts in this backstage interview video clip. In the show, Roberts’ character D.L.
Hawkins has the power to phase through solid objects.
Check it out below, (or on the front page of MySpace.com, where the clip
is profiled today.)
Virginia doesn’t know I am putting this post up, but I wanted to make sure you all knew it was her birthday. As our very own Blogger, she has made our blog what it is today.
We appreciate her work and wish her the happiest of birthdays!
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
